Army National Guard's new Med student program details.

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any newly minted ASRs have any updated information on summer OBLC?? My recruiter says I am still in pending status? how can it be pending for two weeks????????? I know get used to it.

Anyone else hanging on this?😕
 
I am just curious for those of you in the program, about how many hours a week do you end up dedicating to your work for the program. It probably varies, but I just want to get some idea so I know how to structure my time if I get in.

Thanks
 
AliceNWndrlnd said:
Is OBLC only in the summer, or is it year round?
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They run them about 5 times a year, not just in the summer. You need to get put into the school early in order to get a seat. I've been told that the remaining two classes for this year are full.
 
punkiedad said:
any newly minted ASRs have any updated information on summer OBLC?? My recruiter says I am still in pending status? how can it be pending for two weeks????????? I know get used to it.

Anyone else hanging on this?😕
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The problem may not be slots at OBLC for this summer, but funding to send you to training. When I went to drill last weekend one of the new 2LT's said she was unable to go this summer because the state (KY) had run out of training funds. I also spoke to a friend of mine who is in the Indiana gaurd, and they have the same issue.
 
koojo said:
I haven't even started ASR yet and I've given my recruiter at least 10 leads...I hope that takes me off the hook for a while..
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One of the guys I drill with is on MDSSP and had refered someone for ASR and got a $4500 bonus.

If you are not yet in the ASR program then I would speculate that you still qualify for the referal bonus for those 10 leads. Although it may be too late now.
 
tsbuqh said:
One of the guys I drill with is on MDSSP and had refered someone for ASR and got a $4500 bonus.

If you are not yet in the ASR program then I would speculate that you still qualify for the referal bonus for those 10 leads. Although it may be too late now.
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That's a good point, I should look into that. I've received $4000 now by recruiting two people through the GRAP program. I should see if I'm eligible for the new ones.
 
So does the federal tuition assistance ($4500/year) incur an additional guard obligation? I don't understand how this works. I just thought everyone in the guard got this. I've searched through this forum and still haven't found a clear cut answer.
 
DrRoast said:
So does the federal tuition assistance ($4500/year) incur an additional guard obligation? I don't understand how this works. I just thought everyone in the guard got this. I've searched through this forum and still haven't found a clear cut answer.
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http://www.virtualarmory.com/education/fedbenefits/tuition_fta.aspx

It says officers must server 4 years after the last course taken under the Federal Tuition Assistance program. As long as you have 4 years remaining on your 8 year MSO you shouldn't have to do any 'additional' time past your required 8.
 
OK, so it looks like the day of my last class, I will have 3 years and 362 days left in my MSO. So how will this work? Will they just let me stay on for the additional 3 days so I've served a complete four years after my last class? Or will they try and make me sign on for an extra year or something?
 
DrRoast said:
OK, so it looks like the day of my last class, I will have 3 years and 362 days left in my MSO. So how will this work? Will they just let me stay on for the additional 3 days so I've served a complete four years after my last class? Or will they try and make me sign on for an extra year or something?
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Officer's don't really have a contract per-say like enlisted soldiers do with a definitive ETS (end of service date). When your 8 years comes around, you request to be relieved of duty by sending paperwork up to through many branches of office. Once that gets approved, you are out of the military. So all you have to do is make sure that you submit your paperwork with a given time frame so that you are past your 4 year mark for the Federal Tuition Assistance.
 
koojo, How's your experience been with the GRAP program? I assume this is from your prior service - I notice it says AGR officers and ADOS people under state recruiting and retention are ineligible, so I take that means ASR people can't sign up.
 
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I am still in undergrad and am about to join the ARNG while finishing undergrad. Ill be able to use the money from TA and GI bills to fund the rest of undergrad. So basically in 2-3 years I will have graduated and hopefully have an acceptance letter to Med school. So heres the questions:

Is the ARS program available for a enlisted drilling guardsman? If so, what happens to my commitment as an enlisted soldier? Does it get waived and replaced with my 8 year commission?

Alternatively, I can go to OCS and drill during undergrad as an officer. I have the credit to do so (90 required). Would i still be able and equally allowed to pursue the ARS program (assuming I have an acceptance to med school of course). If I did this route and had 2-3 years of drilling under my belt, what would my commitment be after my 3 year ARS?

I really like Guard and plan on being in for quite a while, but I also like to know the details! Is it worth going to OCS and whatnot during undergrad or should I just go enlisted? Would being a commissioned officer give me any edge on getting placed into the ARS program? In South Carolina if that makes a difference to anything. Thanks!
 
eflix said:
koojo, How's your experience been with the GRAP program? I assume this is from your prior service - I notice it says AGR officers and ADOS people under state recruiting and retention are ineligible, so I take that means ASR people can't sign up.
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I've had good experiences with GRAP. I've recruited 2 people already under the program. Once you start ASR though you can't do GRAP because you're part of recruiting and retention and anybody that's part of that (including family members) can't nominate anyone for GRAP.
 
I don't have any specifics on anything yet (ie treat this as a rumor for now) but my understanding is that the program/policy has been written up for a resident version of the ASR. Apparently the ASR program has been so successful that the NG has more med students than at any time previously. Supposedly everything has one or two levels of approval remaining, but it may be in place for the next fiscal year.
 
tscottturner said:
I don't have any specifics on anything yet (ie treat this as a rumor for now) but my understanding is that the program/policy has been written up for a resident version of the ASR. Apparently the ASR program has been so successful that the NG has more med students than at any time previously. Supposedly everything has one or two levels of approval remaining, but it may be in place for the next fiscal year.
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I would jump for joy if this were true! :xf:
 
tscottturner said:
I don't have any specifics on anything yet (ie treat this as a rumor for now) but my understanding is that the program/policy has been written up for a resident version of the ASR. Apparently the ASR program has been so successful that the NG has more med students than at any time previously. Supposedly everything has one or two levels of approval remaining, but it may be in place for the next fiscal year.
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Can anyone confirm? EMH? amindwalker? koojo? notdead?
 
iatrosB said:
Can anyone confirm? EMH? amindwalker? koojo? notdead?
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I think it's "pick a rumor" time.

If we really don't have 200 seats opening up in the fall, which a lot of folks are suggesting, I'd find it very hard to believe that they're expanding it to residents or nurses (which has also been mentioned).

I'll wait until I see it in writing. I may be out of the loop, but I'm still operating on 200 more slots this fall until I hear otherwise. In writing.
 
notdeadyet is right. Unless we see something in writing, nothing is confirmed...that's how the military works. So far we have heard nothing new about October 1st, which probably means that 200 more slots will open up. Still have a few months before October though, so we'll see.
 
Until it's in writing it's not true. I do think it makes better sense for the Army to recruit residents instead of med students. They'll get more useful time out of residents. I said something to this effect to someone at NGB a while back.
 
According to my chain of command, that rumor about a resident version of ASR is total bunk. Sorry. 👎thumbdown👎

It would be awesome though.
 
EMH said:
I do think it makes better sense for the Army to recruit residents instead of med students. They'll get more useful time out of residents.
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Agreed. I don't see the logic of not allowing the program for residents, where the Guard would get more deployable-years out of the arrangement.
 
I figured it was boggus, but a guy can dream.
 
Does anyone know if being in the ASR program would prevent you from going active (joining active duty) after medical school if you choose to?
 
slycaper said:
Does anyone know if being in the ASR program would prevent you from going active (joining active duty) after medical school if you choose to?
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I believe the guard has to let you "conditional release"
 
I think I asked this a bit back, but I am not sure if anyone saw it. Maybe it is answered another place . . .

Anyway, for those of you in the program I was just curious about how much time you end up dedicating to the program. I am sure that it varies quite a bit, but I just want some idea of how to schedule my time if I do happen to get in.
 
sebrewer said:
I think I asked this a bit back, but I am not sure if anyone saw it. Maybe it is answered another place . . .

Anyway, for those of you in the program I was just curious about how much time you end up dedicating to the program. I am sure that it varies quite a bit, but I just want some idea of how to schedule my time if I do happen to get in.
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I hate to answer this, because it sounds like I'm not really answering it, but it REALLY does depend on your LOCAL unit. I can't stress that enough. Mine are super laid back and don't even expect me to drill at all, some expect weekly meetings and updates. Your best bet is to find the unit in your location and ask around.
 
Like stated above it depends. In Michigan I am expected at drill monthly unless I have good reason not to be. So that is two days a month, but while I am there they let me study so its not really "work" per se. During the week I maybe average 4 hours. Most of that is simply answering questions people in the hallways have that I run into. So it is not at all a problem with getting school work done. That is my take. I think that is what most can expect. Answer questions, put up flyers, and give a few presentations. Fairly simple and pays extraordinarily well.
 
rookem11 said:
Like stated above it depends. In Michigan I am expected at drill monthly unless I have good reason not to be.
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Ditto here. Except when I drill, I drill with an actual unit. I don't do the "study at the armory" type of thing that some folks do.

Again, it varies a lot by state and command.
 
Yeay got my real FedRec orders yesterday. Now I need to be transfered to the WV Guard and get my ASR orders starting July 1st
 
koojo said:
Yeay got my real FedRec orders yesterday. Now I need to be transfered to the WV Guard and get my ASR orders starting July 1st
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Congrats, koojo. A long time coming. One more step done...
 
Does anyone know off hand if we (Army) as flight surgeons get to deal with any planes and pilots...or is it all helicopters and their pilots. I would enjoy flight surgery, but honestly, I am more enamored with planes.
 
iatrosB said:
Does anyone know off hand if we (Army) as flight surgeons get to deal with any planes and pilots...or is it all helicopters and their pilots. I would enjoy flight surgery, but honestly, I am more enamored with planes.
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The Army does not own combat fixed-wing aircraft. It does own some non-combat planes, mostly the C-12 and C-23, both twin prop transport craft (yawn).

On the upside, the majority of the fixed wing aircraft the Army runs is maintained by the National Guard, not active Army.
 
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Has anybody figured out how to approach the subject of away rotations etc. third and fourth year? Being gone five months out of fourth year might make it a little hard to drill. Just trying to see what other people have figured out with their units etc.
 
lazyanteater said:
Has anybody figured out how to approach the subject of away rotations etc. third and fourth year? Being gone five months out of fourth year might make it a little hard to drill. Just trying to see what other people have figured out with their units etc.
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The documents outlining your responsibility for ASR are pretty clear that your primary mission is successfully completing medical school. If away rotations are a requirement for that, I can't see how they can object to that.

If you're in a "drilling" state, I'd expect to make the time to drill for your home rotations to compensate though.
 
notdeadyet said:
The documents outlining your responsibility for ASR are pretty clear that your primary mission is successfully completing medical school. If away rotations are a requirement for that, I can't see how they can object to that.

If you're in a "drilling" state, I'd expect to make the time to drill for your home rotations to compensate though.
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Wait aren't all states drilling states? Some don't make you drill at all?
 
DrRoast said:
Wait aren't all states drilling states? Some don't make you drill at all?
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I think NDY is referring to how lax your CO might be - some might be more lenient than others.

punkiedad, any success getting into AKO yet? I'm able to get into AAFES but not AKO yet also (the situation where you were a few weeks ago). Just wondering if I should be patient or bug my recruiter to sponsor me like some people suggested in another thread, or wait a week or two more.

Also, I noticed that the application to apply for federal tuition assistance (the 4500$/year) requires a CAC reader now - has anyone bought the readers for like 20$, or is there another way to apply for FTA? The one I'm looking at is here, but I guess it doesn't make much sense to buy it if I'm not even able to register for AKO yet. http://www.amazon.com/SCM-SCR3310-R...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1244242650&sr=8-1
 
punkiedad, any success getting into AKO yet? I'm able to get into AAFES but not AKO yet also (the situation where you were a few weeks ago). Just wondering if I should be patient or bug my recruiter to sponsor me like some people suggested in another thread, or wait a week or two more.


As soon as I was able to get into DEERS, I was able to login to AKO. I just checked and after resetting my password cause I forgot it, I was able to login. It did mention something about needing a CAC, so I am not real sure..............Additionally, I am not able to logon to mypay either. It seems there should be someone your recruiter can hand you off to for all the administrative questions.
 
Hi all, my recruiter sent me a form to sign up to be eligible for incentives. My question is on special pay and loan repayment.

My recruiter tells me the loan repayment can be collected during med school as well as residency, and he doesn't seem to think it will incur additional MSO beyond the 8 years for ASR. He said special pay can only be collected after residency, and you can pick if you want it for 1, 2, or 3 years.

After reading this thread, it appears that the loan repayment incurs an _additional_ 3 years of MSO. Also, can special pay and loan repayment be taken concurrently, and will the MSO add up? Like if you take both, you could end up with 6 extra years in addition to your 8?

Please advise. How are you guys approaching this? Are you planning to take both or none?
 
Also, I guess is there any harm to signing up for both, but decide not to take them later on? My recruiter says form 1252 just makes you eligible. It doesn't mean you HAVE to take it. But I wonder if you will have to drop through a lot of hoops later on just to say you changed your mind and don't want the incentives anymore?
 
AlphaPower said:
Hi all, my recruiter sent me a form to sign up to be eligible for incentives. My question is on special pay and loan repayment.

My recruiter tells me the loan repayment can be collected during med school as well as residency, and he doesn't seem to think it will incur additional MSO beyond the 8 years for ASR. He said special pay can only be collected after residency, and you can pick if you want it for 1, 2, or 3 years.

After reading this thread, it appears that the loan repayment incurs an _additional_ 3 years of MSO. Also, can special pay and loan repayment be taken concurrently, and will the MSO add up? Like if you take both, you could end up with 6 extra years in addition to your 8?

Please advise. How are you guys approaching this? Are you planning to take both or none?
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You recruiter is wrong. You cannot receive loan repayment in med school, or residency.

You cannot take both at once either.
 
iatrosB said:
You recruiter is wrong. You cannot receive loan repayment in med school, or residency.

You cannot take both at once either.
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Can I ask if you're reading this from a document somewhere? I'd like to get to the source in writing. In the very first few posts of this thread, I saw someone saying the loan repayment and STRAP can be taken concurrently starting the second year of residency. If that's true, then it does appear that you can take loan repayment at least in residency... Very confusing... 😕
 
You can get HPLRP or loan repayment once you start residency. However, you only have the option to take HPLRP if you are taking STRAP. STRAP incurs a two for one obligation, HPLRP also incurs a 1:1, but can be served concurrently with your STRAP repayment. You cannot take specialty pay until all the time you have incurred has been paid back. For example,you do your original 8, and if you took STRAP and HPLRP for 3 years during residency you owe 6 more. Once you have served your 8+6 you can then qualify for specialty pay. So it makes more sense to not take STRAP or HPLRP and get the specialty pay for those six years because if you do the math it adds up to more.

Iatros, what makes you say you can't take loan repayment in residency? From what I have read, I haven't seen anything saying that? I agree you cannot take loan payback while in school.
 
rookem11 said:
You can get HPLRP or loan repayment once you start residency. However, you only have the option to take HPLRP if you are taking STRAP. STRAP incurs a two for one obligation, HPLRP also incurs a 1:1, but can be served concurrently with your STRAP repayment. You cannot take specialty pay until all the time you have incurred has been paid back. For example,you do your original 8, and if you took STRAP and HPLRP for 3 years during residency you owe 6 more. Once you have served your 8+6 you can then qualify for specialty pay. So it makes more sense to not take STRAP or HPLRP and get the specialty pay for those six years because if you do the math it adds up to more.

Iatros, what makes you say you can't take loan repayment in residency? From what I have read, I haven't seen anything saying that? I agree you cannot take loan payback while in school.
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So could you elaborate on what's the best way to take advantage of the incentives? It seems like you're saying to take the special pay only? So it would be 8+3=11 years of MSO total? And you get $75k out of it starting after your residency?
 
Alphapower: If you run the numbers of taking STRAP + HPLRP you get like $1900/month for 36 months + $50,000 loan repayment: TOTAL: $118,400 for 6 years of duty. If you do your 8 and then start doing 3 years at a time for $25,000/yr. 6 years pays $150,000 so clearly monetarily that is the better deal.

When I signed up I signed for the option to take STRAP and HPLRP as my two choices. As of now I do not plan on taking either, I plan to do my eight and then sign 3 years at a time for the specialty bonus.

One side note, the specialty bonus is not for all specialties so that should play into your consideration. If you pick a specialty that isn't on the list it may be worth it for you to do the other stuff.
 
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